Communiqué

La Société des 40 Hommes et 8 Chevaux

Grande Voiture du Missouri

January 2020 - Grand Chef de Gare Janice Hartley L’Editeur Robert C. Emery

Happy New Year everyone,

I hope everyone had an enjoyable Christ-mas with their family and friends.

I have kept myself busy during the past month: I attended Voiture 292, Voiture 1292 and Voiture 1541 Christmas parties. It was great to socialize with everyone. Then off to Branson for the week of Christmas.

Now to touch on a sensitive subject: MEMBERSHIP. We are still over 200 short of the goal of 100%. We need to get those renewals in and start asking veterans that we know to join us. Remember the Spring Wreck is coming up soon. We need some PGs. Thanks for all you do for Grande du Missouri.

I hope to be able to visit some more voitures this month, but the store that I work for is going into inventory time so my time is limited to evenings. If you want me to visit just let me know when and where. Don’t forget time.

Rose Noonan took over the position of Directeur of Nurses Training, so if you need pins or info be sure to give her a call.

God bless you and God bless America. Pray for all our service-men and women, keep them safe and have a happy and heathy new year.

Janice Hartley

Grand Chef de Gare

Grande du Missouri

Sous Grand Correspondants Notes

Here are some corrections to Grande Offi-

cers.

GRAND DIRECTEUR NURSES TRAINING:

Rose Noonan

20165 Highway 28 Dixon, MO 65459

Phone: 573-647-9162

Email: ajnoonan2003@yahoo.com

SOUS GRAND CHEF DE TRAIN

Voitures (38-448-966-1541):

Jim Christman

Email: jimchristman1484@gmail.com

Sam and Jan Guenther have a new address:

2715 S Kimbrough Ave. 107-A

Springfield, MO 65807

Aritcles for the newsletter are due before

the end of the month.

If you have an event please let me know so

I may include it in the newsletter and

post it on the Grande web site and face-

book page.

Feb 2020 – Distinguished Voyageur,

Special Awards

Mar 2020 - POW/MIA, Carville Star

Voiture Activities

Voiture Activities encompasses everything the Voiture’s members spend in volunteering their time and/or money on activities that are not reported to another 40&8 program such as Americanism, Carville Star, Child Welfare, Nurses Training, POW/MIA, Ritual, VAVS-SVH and Youth Sports. And, since 40&8 members are also representing the 40&8 in all their activities (such as the American Legion, VFW, VVA, volunteering at a VA Hospital, etc.), this time and money may be included in the Voiture’s Activities report.

The format for the annual report of Voiture Locale Activities to the Grand includes the following types of activities:

Attendance at 40&8 Promenades, Cheminots and Committees at the Voiture, Grande, Central States and National levels.

Attendance at any activities concerning the Flag, such as Presentations, Raising, Retirement or Distributing flags to First Graders.

Participation in any Veteran Memorial Services, such as Funerals, Dedications, Color Guard, Rifle Squad, Grave Decorations, etc.

Participation by attendance at or in the activities of any School Functions (Elementary, High School, College, ROTC Programs), Veteran Organizations (American Legion, VFW, etc), Fraternal Organizations (Elks, Eagles, Lions, Moose) and Community Organizations (Fire Prevention, Law Enforcement, Neighborhood Security, etc.)

Participation in Parades for City, Local Community, or School events (Color Guard, Marching Units, Riding in floats or vehicles).

Participation in or attendance at any Sports Activities concerning the Youth, such as Baseball, Softball, Bowling, Basketball, T-Ball, Soccer, etc.

Volunteering at VA Hospitals or in “Other” charitable organization programs such as Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, Food Banks, etc.

With the 40&8 Activities being so broadly defined, it seems improbable that any Voiture would have nothing to report on its annual Voiture Locale Activities Report. But in the 2019 Missouri Grand’s Annual Report to National, 9 of the 16 Voitures in the Missouri Grand (representing 40% of the Grand’s members) did not submit Voiture Activity reports for the July 1, 2018 through June 30, 2019 reporting period.

Reporting Considerations:

Use reasonable averages for attendance at activities when exact numbers are not available, and for the round-trip mileages driv-en by the members.

Include travel time both to and returning from an activity along with the time at the “activity”.

The activity’s “$ Spent”...This box in the Voiture Activities report is for cash expenditures. Most of the other 40&8 Programs (Americanism, Carville Star, Child Welfare, etc.) annual reports combine actual cash expenditures with Other Expenses/Services by multiplying the manhours by $5/mhr and mileage at $0.50/mile on the report. The Voiture Activities report does not include this instruction and therefore is asking only for actual cash expenditures in the “$ Spent” box.

Charles Kuehnel, Grand Directeur Voiture Activities

Battle of the Bulge

Army Platoon’s ‘Last-Ditch Stand’

Allied forces were closing in on Berlin, and village by village, forces were rolling across formerly German-held

territories. Many Americans thought that World War II, at least in Europe, was nearly at its end. Some troops had spent

the previous years fighting across North Africa and into southern Europe while their fellow soldiers later stormed the

beaches at Normandy. On Dec. 16, 1944, two squads of soldiers with the Intelligence and Reconnaissance Platoon of

the 394th Infantry Regiment of the 99th Division spotted a large German advance one town over. Their communications

had been cut off from the higher headquarters and they had no fires support. An artillery barrage that lasted nearly two

hours pounded their position, along a ridge and tree line near the village of Lanzerath, Belgium.

But the 18 soldiers, being led by 20-year-old Lt. Lyle J. Bouck Jr., had their orders, “hold at all costs.” Being

outmatched, alone and without support is not a common position for U.S. troops, nor has it been for more than half a

century. But it is a scenario that some fear could become a real feature of future combat. In recent years, Army

leadership has hammered away at the need for their forces to prepare for large-scale combat operations against a peer

adversary. Those peers likely being either Russian or Chinese military units. From Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark

Milley on down, commanders envision distributed units fighting alone, sometimes with degraded

communications and even without support. The Marines are making the same case for how they will transform the

heavy force that’s grown used to fighting drawn out counterinsurgency wars against guerilla-style tactical foes. The Battle of the

Bulge, in which a surprise attack by German forces put the Allies on their heels following a year’s

worth of advances, was the largest-scale battle in the largest-scale war that the United States has ever faced. The men

of I&R Platoon, 394th Infantry Regiment, 99th Division were the most decorated platoon of that battle and the entire

war. Wave after wave of German paratroopers charged the ridge line and the 18 soldiers of Bouck’s platoon mowed

them down with brutal efficiency. They planned to fight to the last bullet, buying their brothers time. That’s because,

though they were outnumbered 15-to-1 by the elite German paratroopers, an even more menacing force was pulling up

behind them – the 1st SS Panzer Division, which was the leading edge of the northern attack of the German 6th Panzer

Army.

Nearly four decades later, Bouck would tell The New York Times about the fight. “We were frightened and we were

tired and it was like a hellish nightmare,” Bouck told the Times in 1981. “It seemed it would never end. We couldn’t

get any help. It seemed like it was all hopeless.’” Though they wouldn’t realize the significance of their stalling fight

for decades, the two squads delayed that force for more than a day, inflicting more than 200 casualties, said Alex

Kershaw, author of “The Longest Winter,” a book about the Bulge that chronicles the platoon’s heroic stand. Kershaw

spoke 16 DEC at the Army and Navy Club as part of a series of events to mark the rolling 75th anniversaries of key

battles and events of the war, held by the nonprofit Friends of the National World War II Memorial.

Over the course of the six-week battle, 10,733 Allied troops were dead, 42,316 wounded and 22,636 missing in

action, according to an Army statement. Retired Army Col. Frank Cohn, 94, was a private during the battle and serving

as a German translator with a small team when fighting broke out. Speaking at the Monday event, Cohn explained how

he and his family had fled Germany in 1938 when he was only 13. He was later drafted into the Army. He recalled the

confusion of the fight, the lack of communications and how he with three other soldiers got lost and turned around

while searching towns for German POWs to interrogate. The foursome was mistaken for a group of Germans who’d

infiltrated Allied lines in U.S. uniforms and held at gunpoint for hours. “The big deal was nobody knew what was going

on,” Cohn said. But what prevailed, he said, was the small unit leaders.

“It all goes back to the basics of the squad leader. The squad leader is key in any of these actions. Then it goes up

to the platoon if they can find it. That’s why we did better than the Germans. Because our squad leaders were better.”

On that first night, Bouck’s plan was to fight to the last bullet and then withdraw his men into the forest. But late in the

fighting, exhausted and outnumbered, the paratroopers managed to flank their foxholes, firing into the pit, wounding

Bouck in the leg and striking his fellow soldier in the face, nearly killing him. He and his men were taken to a small

café in Lanzerath that had become the de facto headquarters for the Germans as they rolled through the town.

Kershaw said that the Panzer division commander, Col. Joachim Peiper, came to the café, shouting at his immediate

subordinate wanting to know what had delayed his advance for more than 12 hours. The subordinate told his

commander that an entire American regiment had pinned down his advance. But, once Bouck and his men were taken

prisoner and the German paratroopers searched the woods, they learned that less than a platoon had stopped them. One

of the 18 died in the fighting, the remaining 17 were taken prisoner but freed months later.

John S.D. Eisenhower, son of President Dwight D. Eisenhower and commander of Allied forces in Europe during

the war, credited the Lanzerath battle with blocking an assault that could have meant an early collapse of the U.S.

position along the lines, transforming the Bulge into a breakthrough, according to the Times article and Kershaw’s

research. The unit would receive no real recognition of what the Army later called, a “courageous and almost last-ditch

stand” that held up German forces in decisive hours as the Battle of the Bulge commenced. But, after petitioning

Congress, the platoon was awarded four Distinguished Service Crosses, five Silver Star Medals and the remaining

soldiers received Bronze Star Medals for their actions that day.

Army vs. Navy Spirit Videos

Every year, Army cadets and Navy midshipmen spend hours or weeks making spirit videos to taunt the opponent during

the week before the annual Army-Navy game. Once the game is over, most of us never think about them again. This

year, we decided to go back and resurface some of the finest spirit videos from the last decade. No matter which side

you're on, these videos feature some sick burns:

Army: Lead From the Front (2017) @ https://youtu.be/GuAs3LaJG_M

Navy: Star Wars (2015) @ https://youtu.be/svU2317XiPw

Army: Alexis (2018) @ https://youtu.be/FGjF3UFF5uk

Navy: Mission Bond (2017) @ https://youtu.be/HKq6-W9Ulh0

Army: Sing Second (2017) @ https://youtu.be/rLxosR9HnJ8

Navy: We Give a Ship (2014) @ https://youtu.be/ZY2J21Uti6g

GRANDE VOITURE DU MISSOURI Grande Cheminot & Wreck

March 6th TO March 8TH, 2020

Oasis Hotel and Convention Center

2546 North Glenstone Ave.

Springfield, MO 65803 417-866-5253 888-532-4338

Room Rate $94.00 (+Tax) per night For Deluxe King or Deluxe Double

PLEASE MAKE RESERVATIONS AS EARLY AS POSSIABLE Handicapped Rooms Available

Make your reservations directly with Oasis Hotel by February 6, 2020 Mention 40&8 Honor Society for special rate when making reservations

Friday

Registration 15:00 HRS until 18:00 HRS in Kalahari and Mojave Rooms Hospitality Room 15:00 HRS until ???? in Kalahari and Mojave Rooms

Saturday Registration 09:00 HRS until 12:00 HRS in Kalahari and Mojave Rooms

WRECK 09:00 HRS until 11:30 HRS LUNCH 11:30 HRS until 13:00 HRS in Kalahari and Mojave Rooms

13:00 HRS – WRECK Continues Hospitality Room open after the WRECK until 16:30 HRS

Grand Chef de Gare Passé Social Hour 17:00 HRS until 18:00 HRS in Kalahari and Mojave Rooms Social Hour 18:00 HRS – Cash Bar/Banquet 19:00 KRS in Maui Ballroom

Hospitality Room after the Banquet Sunday

Grande Cheminot 09:00 HRS – 12:00 HRS

(times and rooms subject to change)

____________________________________________________________________________________ Deadline to register for the Banquet is February 15, 2018 Make

your check payable to: Voiture 460 for registration Send to: Kevin T. Johnson 16810A Huntington Lane Saint Robert, MO 65584

Last Name _________________ First Name ____________________ Spouse/Guest ________________

Title ___________________________________________Voiture Number ______________________

Banquet Buffett $30.00/Person x Number of Guest ____ $_____________________

Registration Fee $10.00 (Voyageurs Only) $_____________________

Total $______________________

Membership

Grande Voiture du Missouri

2-Jan-20

Voiture Name Voiture 2019 2020 2020 Sh/Ov % of

Year End To-date Quota Quota Quota

HEART OF AMERICA 3 43 15 43 -28 34.88%

SPIRIT OF ST. LOUIS 38 74 63 74 -11 85.14%

JESSE JAMES 130 35 23 35 -12 65.71%

HEART OF MISSOURI 292 34 34 34 0 100.00%

STATE FAIR 333 115 91 115 -24 79.13%

GATEWAY 448 75 47 75 -28 62.67%

CENTRAL OZARK 460 57 37 57 -20 64.91%

KICKAPOO 760 35 21 35 -14 60.00%

MARK TWAIN 966 4 3 4 -1 75.00%

CAPITAL 1292 67 39 67 -28 58.21%

MINERAL AREA 1321 70 43 70 -27 61.43%

NEUF COMPT 1379 42 32 42 -10 76.19%

ATCHISON NODAWAY HOLT Counties 1402 11 1 11 -10 9.09%

LAKE OF THE OZARK 1403 15 8 15 -7 53.33%

TWO RIVERS 1541 53 51 53 -2 96.23%

Missouri Total 730 508 730 -222 69.59%